


In the Garden

by AXEe



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Astra Lives!, Butterflies, Celtic Woman, F/F, Gardening, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-18 16:42:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11294622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AXEe/pseuds/AXEe
Summary: In a garden not everything that grows are plants...





	In the Garden

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! More General Danvers fics from me! This time with the help of Celtic Woman! Enjoy! :=)

******

_As I came down through Dublin City_  
_At the hour of twelve at night_  
_Who should I see but the Spanish lady_  
_Washing her feet by candlelight_  
_First she washed them, then she dried them_  
_Over a fire of amber coal_  
_In all my life I ne’er did see_  
_A maid so sweet about the sole_

Astra was sitting on the fire escape outside Alex’s bedroom when Alex came out of the shower after a long night at the DEO. The Kryptonian was just…sitting there amidst the small garden that Alex had made up on the limited fire escape. She made no moves to indicate that she knew that Alex was there (even though she probably heard Alex from three blocks over), but the strangest thing was she that she sitting on the fire escape barefoot.

Her boots (which Alex had always thought were physically attached to the General’s uniform) were sitting next to her as she propped her bare feet up on the edge of a planter box, wriggling her toes as she did so. For a moment Alex thought back to that moment on the rooftop, when she’d pleaded with Astra to help them, she still couldn’t wrap her head around how, once she’d seen J’onn, how Astra had just…taken off, disappearing into the night sky.

Seeing that Astra wasn’t apparently interested in attacking her or otherwise acknowledging her presence/existence, Alex hurriedly finished dressing...

******

_As I came back through Dublin City_  
_At the hour of half past eight_  
_Who should I spy but the Spanish lady_  
_Brushing her hair in the broad daylight_  
_First she tossed it, then she brushed it_  
_On her lap was a silver comb_  
_In all my life I ne’er did see_  
_A maid so fair since I did roam_

Astra was still on the fire escape the next morning, after Alex had—understandably—grabbed a couple of pillows and built a little nest for herself on the couch. Wandering into her bedroom, she found Astra (now with her shoes back on) standing up, head tipped back as the morning breeze shook her hair, making it dance and whip through the air.

For a moment, Alex simply stood and stared at the image, mesmerized by the way the light caught the highlights in Astra’s hair, making it shimmer in a curtain of dark red, brown, and even gold. Shaking herself off, Alex dove into the shower and cranked the knobs to as cold as they could get…

******

_As I went back through Dublin City_  
_As the sun began to set_  
_Who should I spy but the Spanish lady_  
_Catching a moth in a golden net_  
_When she saw me, then she fled me_  
_Lifting her petticoat over her knee_  
_In all my life I ne’er did see_  
_A maid so shy as the Spanish lady_

Astra was still on the fire escape when Alex got home that night. This time she was still in her shoes, but there now seemed to a butterfly collection in Alex’s tiny garden, dozens of the brightly colored insects, their wings glinting in the evening light, darted around a small wood and net box that (presumably Astra) had been set up next to one of the planter boxes. 

Looking closer, Alex could see that Astra had apparently built a type of butterfly colony out of, most likely, recycled materials, next to the planters, which, admiringly, added a bit of brightness to the little garden as well as acting as a type of free pollination service, she’d even stocked the box with leaves for the caterpillars to eat so that they wouldn’t, hopefully, trash Alex’s garden in search for a meal.

It was a thoughtful gift, a confusing gift, but a thoughtful one nonetheless

“Thank you” Alex said softly, not sure what else to say. But as soon as she spoke, Astra’s head whipped towards her, and then, like a startled cat, she took off in a gust of wind…

******

_I’ve wandered north, and I’ve wandered south_  
_Through Stoneybatter and Patrick’s Close_  
_Up and around Gloucester diamond_  
_And back by Nappertandy’s house_  
_Old age has laid her hands on me_  
_Cold as a fire’s ashy coals_  
_Where is the lovely Spanish lady_  
_Neat and sweet about the soul?_

Astra didn’t return the next day, or the next, or the week after that, or even the month after that, and Alex found that she was starting to miss her odd ‘guest’. There had been something strangely peaceful about her visits, Alex had tentatively—and vaguely—broached the subject of Kryptonian military customs to Kara in an effort to understand just _why_ Astra had started showing up on her fire escape. But, unfortunately, Kara didn’t know much, and couldn’t think of anything like Alex had described and only given her a funny look and asked why Alex wanted to know.

Going to talk to Alura’s hologram had also proved futile, and so, Alex was left to sit in her little garden as the butterflies danced around her head and wonder why and wait.

She did that on and off for the next year until, finally, almost to the day that Myriad had been shut down (and Astra had been strangely absent from that whole mess too), Alex climbed out onto her fire escape and found Astra already there, painstakingly examining each butterfly box

“There are more of them then last time” she commented suddenly

“That happens when you’re gone for a year” Alex replied, wondering why she sounded so bitter? She didn’t have any reason to bitter; it wasn’t like Astra was a lover who had suddenly up and left.

Right?

“I am sorry about that,” Astra said as she moved over to the planters and began to examine each plant, and that was when Alex suddenly noticed that Astra was dressed in civilian clothes, a t-shirt and jeans and a pair of worn sneakers “but I couldn’t stay” Astra continued as she gently broke off a dead leaf from one of the plants

“Why did you come in the first place?” Alex wondered

“Your garden”

“My…garden?” Alex repeated

“Yes,” Astra confirmed “you’re a solider, you fight, you kill, but yet…you also create new life,” she nodded to the planter “you nurture it. Seeing that and your Martian comrade made me realize that I can’t continue this cycle any longer, I can’t save lives by taking them”

“You’re the one who shut down Myriad,” Alex realized “it wasn’t Kara’s speech that woke us all up, that was _you_ ”

“Yes, it was,” Astra finally turned to look at her, smiling softly as she stood up and slowly approached Alex, gently reaching out to brush her fingers against Alex’s cheek, and Alex found herself leaning into that touch “I asked you once,” Astra began “oh, such a long time ago,” she chuckled “but…if I am Kara’s aunt, and you are her sister, what does that make us?”

“I don’t know” Alex breathed as she found herself getting lost in bright grey-green eyes, eyes, she realized, were no longer cold and haunted, but bright and energetic, this was the Astra that Kara remembered, the Astra who Alex had heard about time and time again

“Neither do I,” Astra admitted, her eyes dimming slightly “but…am I curious to find out”

“So am I” Alex whispered, leaning in and swiftly capturing Astra’s lips, smiling as Astra kissed her back eagerly…

**END**

**Author's Note:**

> Lyrics are from Celtic Woman's "The Spanish Lady" (although interestingly, the last verse doesn't appear on either the CD or the concert DVD), anyway, let me know what you thought :=)


End file.
